Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Terry Smith served as a AA All-Star trainer, as trainer in Tigers and Red Sox systems


Trenton Thunder trainer Terry Smith made the 1996 Eastern League All-Star game, along with Binghamton trainer Mike Herbst, The Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin wrote.

The paper also noted the two trainers wanted to be there, but also hoped to not be needed.

"Hopefully these guys stay health," Herbst told The Press and Sun-Bulletin.

Smith made that All-Star game as part of a minor league training career that had spanned a decade, including time with the Tigers and with the Red Sox.

Smith started as a trainer in his native Ohio, at Ohio University.

He signed on with the Tigers by 1985 and was assigned to rookie Bristol. He then caught on at single-A Lakeland and stayed. He remained as trainer at Lakeland through at least 1990, five-straight seasons.

By 1995, he'd joined the Red Sox at high-A Sarasota. He then moved to AA Trenton for 1996. 

The book "Filling in the Seams: The Story of Trenton Thunder" noted Smith's work that year, booking a pitcher's flight to Boston, along with treating a batter's broken ulna bone. He also checked out a catcher injured on a foul ball in an August game.

That 1996 campaign is the last where he appears to have been credited as a minor league trainer.

1990 Minor League Tally 
Players/Coaches Featured:3,725
Made the Majors:1,262-33.9%
Never Made Majors:2,463-66.1%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:522
10+ Seasons in the Minors:309

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